


with this ring

by antivillain



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: (i guess???), Character Study, F/M, Fluff, Spoilers for Book 2: The Wicked King, Spoilers for Book 3: The Queen of Nothing, also Big Sap Hours, baby's first ao3 fic!, mostly random musings about what these characters mean to each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22289215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antivillain/pseuds/antivillain
Summary: Jude and Cardan finally, properly exchange rings. Well, properly for them, anyway.(aka: an extended, somewhat sappy musing on wedding rings and what they might mean to these characters)
Relationships: Jude Duarte/Cardan Greenbriar
Comments: 7
Kudos: 113





	with this ring

Cardan still was not exactly sure what he meant by giving Jude back her ring on the night that they married.

He had always intended to return it - he would have sooner, even, if Jude had only given him the satisfaction of telling him how annoyed she was that he had stolen it, rather than just irritably glancing at his hand from time to time – and giving it back during their wedding seemed an apt gesture of goodwill.

But he could not deny that he was not exactly focused on strategy or firming up truces as he listened to Jude recite her vows and slipped the ring onto her finger. Cardan only vaguely understood the mortal tradition of “wedding rings” – he read about it only once in a mortal fable that had faded in his memory. He knew the rings were meant to symbolize the bond between those who had married, that they meant something like trust. Even a year earlier, he might have scoffed at the tradition; how foolish were humans, to believe that a bit of silver or gold could banish all their fickleness and weakness and doubt?

He understood the power of symbols better now, and he had come to learn exactly how painful and necessary hope could be. Cardan would not have Jude as anyone other than she was, fierce and tenacious and truly frightening and mortal. He wanted to honor that, ensure that Jude knew he intended to do this properly on her terms. But, beneath that, Cardan held onto a somewhat childish desire. Perhaps a ring could show Jude that this was hardly a political move for Cardan, could make this moment about something more than yet another Faerie power struggle.

The best answer Cardan could give now to why he gave Jude her ring back in that moment was that he wanted her to know he was hers in a way that was tangible and familiar to her. The vows were a mere formality.

* * *

A few months after their coronation and the chaos that preceded it, Jude halfheartedly attempts to talk Cardan out of giving her a second ring. This one is a much humbler piece than the ruby ring Madoc gifted her and Cardan later stole; it is in a little dish of antique jewelry at the front of a gift shop near Vivi and Heather’s apartment, and the sales clerk tells them it costs only $30.

The ring is carved to look like a small golden snake, curling up the wearer’s finger in an S-shape. Up close, Jude can see that the artist even took the care to etch in a pair of tiny eyes and a slash for a mouth. She understands why Cardan is taken with it – his primary coping mechanism for dealing with the trauma of the snake incident has been to embrace the serpent paraphernalia offered to him by their subjects and generally make a bunch of jokes about the incident. She is less clear on why he wants to give it to her.

(Even now, when it is a gift from Cardan, whom she loves and trusts, Jude has a hard time not being wary of any gift offered to her by the Folk.)

“You’re the one who slayed the snake. You deserve some kind of prize to commemorate your triumph,” Cardan says.

“Slayed is a strong word,” Jude says, “You’re still here, aren’t you?”

“Nevertheless, it’s not your fault I’m surprisingly difficult to kill,” Cardan replies with a wry smile. He pauses for a moment, and his expression becomes more serious as he continues, “Consider it a token of thanks from me, then. Whenever you look at it, remember that I would still be trapped in the serpent were it not for you, and know that I am forever in your debt.”

There was a time when it would have thrilled Jude to hear those words from Cardan. Both of them knew that thanks had a very particular meaning in Faerie, that to admit owing anything meant risking terrible consequences when those debts were called in. But she no longer wanted him under her power, not in that way. This felt…unbalanced.

Before she could fully think it through, Jude began tugging the ruby ring off of the ring finger of her left hand while saying, “I have a counter-proposal.” She slides the ring off of her finger, and holds it up to him, “How about a trade?”

Cardan looks at her with confusion, “Why would you want me to have that? It’s the- It’s much more valuable than the trinket I’m offering.”

Jude thinks she can guess what Cardan planned to say before cutting himself off – the ruby ring is one of the last things she has that Madoc gave her. A rare reminder of the happy enough life they had together as a family before Jude joined the Court of Shadows and Madoc murdered Dain and everything went to hell.

If anything, that is yet more reason for Jude to get rid of it. To her, the ring will always hold bittersweet memories – Madoc giving it to her for a birthday would only remind her that they would likely never celebrate anything together again. Even the memory of Cardan returning it to her when they married still stung a little – she could not help but think of being exiled mere hours later, and the feeling that the ring was the finishing touch on a trap she willingly entered.

Now, Jude says only, “I don’t want you in my debt. You told me once that us trying to control each other only hurt us both. You were right,” She glances over at the sales clerk to check that she’s not listening, and lowers her voice slightly before going on, “We are the High King and High Queen of Elfhame. Any disparity between us, however well-intentioned, makes it easier for the Council or the courtiers or who knows who else to grow their influence. We have to be on equal footing for this to work.”

Cardan nods slowly, “As well-reasoned as ever-“

Jude cuts him off, going up on tip-toe to kiss him quickly as she slides the ring onto his finger, “The simpler answer is that this evens the score between us. I never got to give you a wedding ring. Now, I’m repaying my debt.”

Now, Cardan looks incredulous, “It was _your_ ring to begin with, Jude.”

Jude shrugs, “I gave you your family’s crown. The ledger between us has never quite added up.”

Cardan tries to argue with Jude for a moment longer, but he takes her hand in his and slips the snake ring onto her ring finger even as he complains. Their bickering falls off entirely after that, as Jude pulls Cardan’s face down to hers, and the sales clerk finally looks over to snipe at them about whether they intended to pay for the ring.

(Neither of them have mortal money, so Cardan trades her one of his many rings, a thin gold piece with a massive teardrop-shaped opal. The clerk forgets all about the company policy that the store does not take barters and waves Cardan and Jude off without looking at them, still transfixed by the gem.)

From that day forward, the High King and Queen of Elfhame are never seen without their respective wedding rings. The court’s smiths ask Jude every so often if she wishes for them to make her a more elegant version of the snake ring, with finer gold and more intricate carvings. Jude refuses every change to the ring but one – she sharpens the snake’s snout to a point, transforming the ring into a tiny weapon any time she makes a fist.

Cardan was not wrong – it is nice to have a small reminder of her vanquishing of the serpent, something to ground her in the moments when the world feels off-kilter and she fears that she has somehow dreamt the past few months and the monster still roams free. Some days, she runs her fingertip along the snake’s newly sharp edge, just lightly enough to avoid drawing blood, and thinks about her vision of becoming the Queen of Monsters. Thinks about the fact that even though she did not choose that path, that ruthlessness will always be there for her to draw upon when she needs it.

Most of the time, though, the ring makes her think about her joy and relief that Cardan is here and real and hers, and the serpent drifts further into memory with each passing day. Wedding rings are a mortal tradition, and only being mortal – being vulnerable and heartsick and convinced that something existed between them greater than any power she could wield over him – allowed Jude to save Cardan.

They do not need fancy rings or the crown to swear on or any ceremony to make this real. Even an ill-gotten ruby ring from childhood and a flimsy novelty ring are enough to represent what Jude and Cardan already know – that they are in this together, and that they will keep saving each other.

**Author's Note:**

> As you might have seen in the tags, this is my first-ever fic on ao3! Thanks to Holly for writing characters and relationships compelling enough to send me into the semi-fugue state in which I wrote this at midnight (this story was very unbeta-ed, and I apologize if that led to this being difficult to read at all) , and thanks to you for reading to the end. :)


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